Mother Who Left Kids Alone When Fire Started is Charged

HIBBING (AP) - A Hibbing woman has been charged after authorities say she left her two small girls home alone when a fire broke out.

The 2-year-old and 5-year-old were able to escape to a neighbor's. A criminal complaint says the older girl said her younger sister was playing with the stove when some papers on top of it caught fire Tuesday evening.

Reports say 24-year-old Kenya Shamekia Perteet faces two counts of child endangerment and two counts of child neglect. Prosecutors say she left the girls alone when she went to work, and had been gone for five hours before the fire.

The complaint says she told authorities she had to leave the girls because she couldn't find a sitter.

A message left with the public defender's office wasn't immediately returned.